Hope and Feathers/Walks
The opening for the Hope and Feathers exhibit was lovely. Quite a few American Demographics folks made the trip to Amherst, and it was a grand reunion. Special thanks to founder Peter Francese for coming down from New Hampshire, to Brad Edmondson who wrote a very flattering piece about me, and to Mike Rider who designed a lovely flyer for the show. Seeing everyone made me happy.
The folks at Hope and Feathers were great, and thanks to Bronwen for all her hard work, and to Simone for hanging the photos. And thanks to Michelle for agreeing to this somewhat out of left field project.
It is great to have our Peter back home for a while. One of the benefits of having him around is that we often take walks in and around Amherst, and it is fun to grab a camera and take some pictures.
I love the Autumn and how plants adapt to the changing seasons.
Concrete too. But it doesn’t change much.
Thanks for following.
Football and Frog
If you read this site regularly, you might think that most of my photography has to do with the suitcases project or random things that go on in my life. But I still shoot stuff in an attempt to make a living. Once in a while I help out my friend Thom Kendall, who has the contract to shoot UMASS sports. Today was the first game to take place in Amherst in several years, as the team has been playing home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro (yeah, it’s complicated). Upon review, this play was ruled a touchdown, and I was happy to get this shot.
With all the TV timeouts, I didn’t get home until about 7.45. We had some nice mozzarella and one of the last good tomatoes of the season, and Cris wondered if any of the basil that we grow in pots on the deck was still edible. It was dark out so she brought in the pot and started trimming leaves. Quite quickly she noticed that this froggie had come in with the plant. We caught it, and after I took this photograph, put him (her?) back outside. Love those sticky feet.
Stadium Thing
I am not really sure what to call this post. Just now when I uploaded the photograph, I saw that my shorthand for it was “stadium thing”. I guess I’ll go with that. I believe that it was built to sell snacks during UMASS football games, but I have never seen it in use. If you look to the right of the photo you will note that there is a second one just to the south. I have spent a lot of time around sports venues and never seen anything like it. Oddly beautiful though.
Something New
This post is a way to jump-start my brain. I have been so preoccupied with Peter that it has been difficult to concentrate on anything else. It feels great to be focusing on photographs again. None of these pictures seem so interesting on their own, but together reflect what’s been going on for the past month.
Above is Tom Schack’s birthday cake from the now infamous “Schackstock” at Snowzies in Sunderland. Bands started playing at 1 pm and things shut down at closing time. His Mom, Dad, and Sister were there as well as lots of his friends.
He is just about the nicest guy in the world, and was really enjoying himself.
This flower starts showing up partway down the drive in early August.
When I was shooting the Tilghman project in August I made sure to visit Miss Pigsley. She lives down the street from Jennifer, has an air conditioner in her shed and will never be bacon. I took this for Peter because we are both huge P.G. Wodehouse fans and any stories with Lord Emsworth feature his obsession with “The Empress”. This pig is magnificent and is very happy to have visitors. She used to drink massive amounts of Kool-Aid until the vet put her on a diet.
On the Sunday morning before Peter Carroll and I left the island, we went to the church to document a service. This gentleman was in the pew in front of me.
I have always liked cattails.
When Cris, Pete, and I went to see the Sox in August, the Olympics were going on and this guy was checking out the US Women’s Soccer action. Technology!
I had a hard time getting the white balance right in this shot. I walk past this box on my way to shoot the suitcases. It always reminds me of this Little Feat song.
Going back to Meadville means more than hot dogs and ice cream but two stops are essential; Eddie’s and Hank’s Frozen Custard.
I have been going to Hank’s since it opened in 1952.
Peter loves it too.
There is only one reason to post this photo. It might be the only time you can see Red Sox pitcher Clayton Mortensen at bat in an American League Park. At this point the Sox were up something like 12-1 and I still can’t figure out why Bobby Valentine had him at the plate. Kind of cool though.
When we were at Pymatuning watching the ducks walk on the fishes backs we met the woman I posted about earlier. She was wearing this shirt which got us talking. I’d like to visit sometime.
It is very rare to be in on an historical moment, but I can say I was there when one of my neighborhood friends coined the term “Rat Lake” for the body of water that appeared after the flood control dam was built.
I usually help Thom Kendall out with the photos on media day for the UMASS football team. The new coach is a really great guy. This picture pretty much tells you most of what you need to know about Charley Molnar.
The Pearl out on the deck.
Cris and I went to Amherst Coffee today. I often take a shot of my cappuccino for some reason.
Never one to hide my emotions, I have been mentioning to just about anyone I talk to about my feelings of having Peter off in DC. So many of you have told me that he will be fine, and I want to thank you all for your support. One of the best bits of encouragement came from Leamuse in France as a comment on my earlier post. “Bon courage et bon chance.” Thank you so much; it really helps.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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